Brothers, Orphans
by HawkRider
Summary: For Gr4Yr4iN's 2011/2012 challenge. Sora and Roxas are orphans. Then, in come Cloud and Leon to change their lives. K  due to Axel.


**Well, in case you didn't really look at the summary, this is for Gr4Yr4iN's 2011/2012 challenge. The grand total of words, excluding A/N, is 2012.**

**Anyway, I hope that you enjoy.**

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><p>I sighed as I looked around the room. The few things I held dear were all in here. The photograph of my parents, and my brother. He was lying on the bed opposite mine.<p>

Our parents had died three years ago. It was a car crash. They had died instantly, whereas me and Sora had gotten away with nothing worse than a few cuts and bangs, though Sora did fall unconscious right after it happened. It wasn't fair. Why did we have to have gotten away with barely any harm, whereas our parents...

I felt tears start to build up in my eyes. I wiped them away.

The room we were in was small, the smallest in the whole orphanage. Well, it was the same size as all of the other bedrooms, but since two people shared the room, there wasn't nearly as much space as there should have been. There was even a spare room, but Sora refused to be separate from me.

We'd been at the orphanage since the crash. Sora would've been adopted, but he refused to go anywhere without me. And nobody wanted to adopt me. I was anti-social. Only Sora ever managed to make me talk.

And even then it was rare.

I heard Sora start to whimper in his sleep, so I stood and walked over to his bed, sitting on the edge and stroking his hair gently until he calmed down. I stayed next to him in case he started again. He had nightmares most nights and if I didn't manage to calm him down, he'd wake up screaming. Very loudly. The last time it happened, he woke half the street.

Literally.

His breathing returned to normal. I smiled slightly, then moved back over to my bed, lying on my back and staring at the ceiling. I found the nightmares too horrible to bear. So I didn't give them a chance to creep up on me. I never slept.

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><p>My eyes were starting to droop when Sora's alarm clock went off, the annoying tune eradicating my feeling of tiredness. I checked that the alarm for five minutes afterwards was on, then grabbed some clothes and headed to one of the several bathrooms in the building to shower.<p>

Ten minutes later, I returned to our room to find Sora ready for a new day.

"Come on Roxas! Let's get breakfast!" He cheered, pulling me through the orphanage to the dining room. We were the first there. We walked into the connecting kitchen, me putting some bread in the toaster while Sora poured cereal into a bowl. Three minutes later, we were back in the dining room, eating our breakfasts as several other kids came in. The first was a boy with an explosion of red hair on his head. Axel, the most annoying person I have ever known. I sighed as he walked up, staring at me with his green eyes.

"So, Roxy. Have you considered that offer?" I ignored him. He sighed. "Fine. But I wont stop asking until you agree to go out with me!" I had no clue as to why he had a crush on me.

"Go away Axel." Sora said through a mouthful of Coco Pops. Axel lingered though, until he realized that he wasn't going to get any food, so headed into the kitchen. We finished and I took the plate, bowl and spoon into the kitchen while Sora made sure that our spots in the lounge were free, as well as tidy it up somewhat. We were being visited by people wanting to adopt, and thus most of us were much more active than normal.

I put all of mine and Sora's things in the dishwasher, then filled a bowl with water in case Axel set fire to anything 'accidentally' while he was frying his bacon. After that, I walked up to our bedroom in order to grab the book I was reading and Sora's DS before joining Sora in the lounge.

So for the next hour or so, me and Sora waited in our corner of the room, him racing against someone else in the orphanage on his favorite game while he was a strange, green dinosaur in an egg-like car whist I read. The book was rather interesting, a crime novel about a psychologist who was trying to prove the woman her daughter was dating guilty, despite the psychologist not thinking she was actually guilty.

The blurb made it sound more interesting than I did.

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><p>After that hour, the doorbell rang. I heard it open, and then the conversation between whoever had just arrived and the head social worker. "Hello. I'm Aerith. You must be Cloud and Leon Strife."<p>

"That's right." Said one of them, rather deep.

"I'm Cloud, he's Leon." Said another, his voice higher.

"Ok. Well I'm sure that you should find someone you will like here." Aerith said. I heard footsteps, then the door opening. We were still the only ones in the room. "Well, these are Sora and Roxas." She said as the two men walked into our room. The four of us gasped. Cloud and Leon looked like older versions of me and Sora. Aside from the scar on the Sora-lookalike's face, which I doubt Sora would ever end up with.

"Well..." Said my lookalike. From his voice I could tell that he was Cloud. "I didn't expect this..." He commented. "I'm Cloud." He said, nodding to us.

"I'm Leon." Leon said, mirroring Cloud's movement.

"I'm Sora and this is Roxas." Sora said, standing as he put down his DS. "My brother." He smiled.

"Would you like to see the other kids?" Aerith asked.

"Why not?" Leon said.

"Sora? Could you get everybody else?" Aerith asked.

"Sure." He ran off up the stairs. I pretended to carry on reading, instead listening to the conversation between the three adults.

"So, Roxas?" I ignored Leon.

"Don't worry. Roxas never really talks. It's not that surprising though. After all, when his parents died..."

"Please don't talk about that." I interrupted, quickly but quietly. Aerith looked at me.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything about that." She apologized quickly. I could see tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Hmm...Maybe we could help him Leon." Cloud said. The brunette shrugged.

"Maybe..." He was cut off by a swarm of kids entering the room. While Sora came back over to me, the others stood around, looking both excited and nervous. Although Axel was staring at me.

"All right. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" Aerith asked. Axel stepped forwards.

"I'm Axel. It's nice to meet you." He said, smiling. I could see he went first simply to get it over with and could attempt to flirt with me.

"My name is Xion." A girl said. She looked like a tomboy, with short, black hair and blue eyes similar to mine and Sora's. She was however, far from a tomboy. She just didn't like having long hair.

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><p>The other orphans continued to introduce themselves, Axel thankfully being forced to the opposite side of the room by Demyx, his best friend with an obscene love for some singer, even having a miniature shrine in his room. All I knew about him was that Demyx had styled his own hair after his, making it an odd mix between a mullet and a mohawk.<p>

Soon, the last person introduced herself, a shy girl about eight years old called Naminé, the youngest of us here. It wasn't that long since there were only about twelve of us in the orphanage, including me and Sora.

"Well, all of you seem really nice, so I think that me and Cloud are going to have to ask you some things." Leon said. "One. This is just for you older kids. Are you homophobic?" If you are, take a seat. Three people sat. Sora dragged me to my feet, standing up as well.

"Two." Cloud said. "Is there anybody here you absolutely do not want to be separated from, at all? If not, sit." The only people left standing were me, Sora and Axel.

"So, who do you not want to not live with?"

"Roxas!" Sora chimed.

"Roxy here." Axel said almost simultaneously, throwing his arm around my shoulders. I ducked under his arm and moved to the other side of Sora, away from him.

"Well, I think that that shows it." Leon turned to Aerith. "Would it be possible to adopt both Sora and Roxas?" He asked her. I could tell that Aerith was inwardly cheering.

"If it's ok with them both." She said, her voice calm like always, but her eyes shining from hidden delight.

"It's ok with me!" Sora said, eyes shining. I nodded.

"That's good to hear." Leon said. "And see." He added, looking at me.

"Right. Now, there is a short waiting period. It's one week long. Do you mind?" Aerith inquired.

"Not at all." Cloud said. "Is there anything that we need to sign?" He asked.

"Yes. They're in my office. I'll just go and get them. Sora, Roxas, why don't you get to know Leon and Cloud?" She suggested as she left. "And why don't the rest of you give them some privacy?" She added before she left. The others trickled out, Axel glancing back at me, probably sad at the fact that I would be leaving.

"So, what are your favorite things to do?" Leon asked.

"Well, my favourite pastime is playing on my DS. Roxas prefers to read." He paused. "Would you at all mind if we shared a room?" He asked.

"Not at all. But why?" Leon asked. You could see the confusion on their faces.

"Well...I sometimes get really bad nightmares, and Roxas has ones which were even worse than mine." He sighed. "You see, our parents died in a car crash. We were in the car with them. I was knocked unconscious, but Roxas..."

"I wasn't." I interrupted. "We were in the car for about an hour and a half." I finished.

"I regained consciousness in the ambulance. We were both fine physically. But mentally, well..."

"You don't have to talk about it." Leon interrupted. "If you don't want to talk about it, don't."

"Thank you." I said.

"Here are the forms." Aerith said, walking back in. "Would you like to stay any longer?" She asked.

"We'd like to, but we can't. It was great meeting you all." Cloud said.

"How would you like to visit us? You could come over some time this week. So you can see the house." Leon suggested to us.

"Would that be ok Aerith?" Sora asked.

"Of course it is. After all, you really ought to get know your future parents." She smiled.

"Is Thursday all right with you?" Leon asked.

"We're good with then." Sora told them, smiling.

"Well...I think that then is fine." Aerith said. "What time would you like them over?"

"Is eleven fine?" Cloud asked.

"Certainly." Aerith confirmed. "If it's ok with them."

"It's fine with me. You Roxas?" I nodded. "So, do you live close by?" He asked.

"Only a few streets away. Eight Market Street. Do you want us to pick you up or..."

"We'll walk. Thanks for offering though Cloud." Sora smiled.

"Ok. Well, we'll see you then." Leon said. We rose and headed to the door, where we waved them farewell. Then we made our way back to our room.

"You know, this seems like it could end up great!" Sora said as he flopped down on his bed.

I smiled slightly before replying. "You know what Sora? It just might."


End file.
